Lost History
by clxndestine
Summary: Two different people with different lives, a hero and a journalist. A story that was never told and heard. A Lost History between two people whose lives should have never crossed. (season 1 barry/oc)
1. Prologue

_**Nine Months Later**_

 **BARRY WAS FAST, REALLY FAST.** He thought he was going to die after being struck by lightning, but, instead, he was running faster than he had ever been and he got abs. After running out of the Central City Police Department, he ran straight to Star Labs, but he stopped when he reached the abandoned parking lot of the infamous building. He didn't want to tell Dr. Wells that he was that fastest man alive, not yet.

He needed time to think about what was happening to him so he ran the other way. He ran towards the one place where he felt safe. He had hoped that she would be there waiting for him. Things didn't go well last time they saw each other and the nine month long coma did not help with the situation.

Does she know what happened to me? Is she still mad at me for what happened between us? His thoughts were running wild as he ran through the never ending highways of Central City. He kept running until he reached his destination. He slowed to a stop and stared at the abandoned bungalow house in the middle of the woods. They accidentally found it a while back when they were out combing through the woods one afternoon.

It became their rendezvous spot. They both knew where to meet when the other one was feeling horrible or miserable that day. He stayed in his place and tried to familiarize the house in front of him. It has been a long time since he saw this place and it still felt like home. The outside may look horrible, but the inside was different.

Tress loomed over the house giving it a haunted look. The wood paneling looked like worse than the last time they were here. He tried looking through the window from where he was standing and saw nothing but dust blocking the way. It would usually be clean whenever he visited because she would clean them when she had been waiting for him. The dirty windows were a sign that she hasn't been here for a long time.

He sighed and walked towards the house. Leaves crunched under his foot and every step he took he felt his stomach fall deeper. He didn't know what to expect. He didn't know if the inside was still the same. They had an amazing friendship and it never became more until Barry decided to do the most stupid thing in the whole world: fall in love with her.

He didn't mean to and he knew it was too fast to fall in love with a girl. They only knew each other for a few months and he didn't even know if she ever felt the same way. He never got the chance to ask because she—

No. He couldn't say it. It hurt. One thing he missed while being in a coma was he didn't get to feel any pain. He was at peace, but, now, that he was awake he could feel everything all at once. It was safe to say that his feelings for her were slowly fading. He didn't love her like he did months ago, but he still liked her. He still cares about her.

He had moved on from her and he was slowly gaining feelings towards his childhood best friend, Iris West. Yet, he still can't change the fact that what he did last time was wrong, but he would do anything to see her and say sorry for what he had done.

He didn't know where she was. He tried not to feel sad about it, but he can't help but miss her. Despite his unspoken feelings towards her, he still loved their friendship. He was one of her best friends. She was just like Iris and people like Iris were automatically cool with him.

He stopped in front of the musty old door and lifted his hand to grab the rusting knob. He twisted the knob and pushed the door open. The slowly rotting door creaked open and dust floated in front of his face. He let out a cough and brought both of his hands up in front of his face to wave off the flying dusts. With one last cough, he pushed through inside and was met by darkness.

Well, it wasn't that dark, but that was how it felt for Barry. His face fell when he noticed everything inside was a mess. He stepped inside and kept the door open because the light from the outside was the only thing lighting the whole room. He looked around and saw that the blanket that was once in front of the fire place was now at the corner of the room.

She was here, he thought. He let out a smile knowing that she visited this place. She didn't forget. He took a step forward and felt that he stepped on some glass. He quickly looked down and noticed that he did step on broken pieces of glass. He scrunched up his eyebrows and bent down to take a closer look. He was a CSI and he knew something had happened. He examined the broken pieces and picked up a shard. He brought it above his head because it was too dark to see it properly. He craned his neck up and slowly turned the piece slowly. It didn't look like it came from the windows and it was too thin to come from a drinking glass.

He brought the glass down and let out a frustrated sigh. Where the hell did it come from? He shook his head and dropped the glass. He stood up and continued walking further into the bungalow house. He went to the black leather couch that had lots of holes in it. Foam from the inside was spilling out. They always covered it with a blanket, the blanket that was in the corner of the room.

He turned his head towards the blanket that lay messily on the floor. Dust gathered on the blanket that used to be white. He walked over and bent down to pick up the cloth. His hand closed around the edge of the blanket and he stood up. The stared at the blanket and smiled as memories flashed through his mind. It was her blanket.

He turned around to walk away, but stopped when he stepped on something hard. He looked down and his breath hitched. It was picture frame. He frowned and let go of the blanket that fell next to his feet.

He bent down and picked up the edges of the picture frame. He didn't know what hurt more, the fact that it was the first time in a long time that he saw her smile or the fact that she threw the picture away. He pursed his lips and did his best not to cry.

She was miserable and, for the first time, he wasn't there for her. He closed his eyes and let out a huge sigh. His chest felt so heavy and he didn't know what to do. He looked down at the picture again and the corner of his lips quirk up but fell quickly.

The photo was taken during her birthday. Four months before everything went to shit. Since the glass in the frame was shattered, he brushed his hand over her face. He smiled sadly and let out a small laugh as he remembered one of her jokes.

A tear drop fell from his cheek and landed on the edge of the frame. He lifted his hand and brushed away the tear. Fuck, he didn't know it would be this painful. He stared at her light blue eyes and admired her long black hair. He wondered if she cut it short or not.

He wondered if she still looked like this. If she was still the same girl he met that day. He hoped that she hadn't changed at all. The thought of her being the same made him smile. This gave him hope that he still has the chance to change things between them. He still has her number in his phone and he was excited to call her soon. Okay, maybe, now.

He tucked the picture frame between his arm and the side of his body. He reached in his pockets and grabbed his phone. He unlocked his phone and pressed on his contacts button. He scrolled down until he saw her name.

He clicked on her name and pressed call. He brought the phone up to his ear and waited patiently for her to pick up. His heart was beating so fast and he actually didn't know what to say to her when she picks up. He sighed angrily when it went to voicemail. He pulled the phone away and pressed on the call button again.

"Come on, pick up the phone," he muttered. No one answered and he was getting anxious by the minute. He called again and again and again.

He called seven times and still no answer. I guess she's still mad at me, he thought. He pulled the picture frame from out of his arm and stared at it again. He didn't know it would come to this. He screwed up. He needed to fix this. He needed to see her, but he didn't know where she was. He brushed his thumb over the picture and his face set in stone.

"I'm going to find you. I promise," he said. His voice was full of promise. He wasn't going to let her go that easily. She may not be his happy ending, but she was his best friend. That was enough for him to keep him going. They had history together and he was not going to lose that.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Flash. All rights goes to the CW.**


	2. (i) BEFORE

_**Six months before the particle accelerator explosion**_

 **SHE WAS GETTING TIRED** of the way the creepy old, bald guy was looking at her. She was never the one for attention.

She flit her light blue eyes towards the bald guy two tables away from her and saw him quickly look down at the newspaper that he was reading. She cleared her throat and returned her gaze towards her laptop.

She really wished that she brought her best friend, Vince. Vince's six-foot height might have scared the creepy guy out of CC Jitters. Without taking her eyes off her computer screen, she reached for her cup that was placed beside her laptop.

She closed her hand around the cup and slowly lifted it up to her lips. She winced a little when she felt the searing hot coffee hit her lips. She pulled the cup away from her mouth and brought her right index finger up to her mouth to soothe the pain. Sometimes she hated how coffees can be so hot, but she needed a boost of caffeine to help her through the day. When the pain was slightly gone, she brought it back near her lips and blew on the little opening on the lid. She took a sip of her coffee and placed her coffee back on the table.

She could still feel the stares of the old man, but she decided to ignore the feeling of being watched and instead focus on the fact that she needed to come up with another idea for her report/project. Being a freelance journalist was harder than she thought.

She recently quit her job at Daily News Central City. DNCC was the second largest newspaper company at Central City and they were known for not hiring more than one applicant from the internship program. She applied along with twenty more people. She was surprised when their editor-in-chief, Mr. Turner, called her and said she got the job along with another intern Of course, she celebrated because she couldn't believe that DNCC hired her and another person which meant she was special.

However, it turns out that she only got the job because her big shot scientist of a father decided to sue the company if they did not hire her. Her first week at DNCC was nothing, but paperwork and errands from her boss and some of her co-workers. Her only true friends in DNCC were Dane and Cara. They made her work at DNCC bearable. Two months in to the job and she noticed that she didn't really feel like a journalist, but more of an assistant to her boss. Every time she would suggest an idea Mr. Turner would simply ignore her or say that her idea was irrelevant.

Five months passed and Dane broke the news to her on how she got her job. Everybody at DNCC knew except for her. She cried for a solid week and did her best not to call her father and scream at him. After learning about what her father did, she went up to Mr. Turner and told him that she was quitting and never returning. She walked straight out of his office not giving him any chance to say anything because she didn't want to hear his voice. Her dad, Theodore Pierce, CEO of Pierce Pharmaceuticals, was rarely around while she was growing up. She mostly lived with her mom, Lacy Reid, but she recently got an apartment at 22nd Pioneer Street. Her older sister, Natalie, lived at Starling City. She was a lawyer there and she visits when she can.

Her parents got divorced when she was ten. Her mother never told her the reason why they decided to get divorced. She would always change the topic and say that it wasn't important. Until now, it remains a mystery. A part of her wants to know and understand what happened, but another part of her doesn't want to know.

She never really knew her father that much. She would rarely see him at their home. She remembered walking into her parents talking with each other, their voices slowly increasing with each sentences. She didn't get the chance to properly listen to their fight because her older sister pulled her away from the scene. That was the last time she heard her father in their house. It has been over a year since she last spoke to her dad. She had seen him in newspapers and in TV, but she never seen him in real life.

She never uses her dad's last name whenever she introduced herself because people would automatically say, "Wait, is your dad the owner of Pierce Pharmaceuticals?"

She hated it and, now, because of him, she was jobless. Her fingers moved across her keyboard while her eyes were trained on her screen. She decided to update her blog after two months of not being active.

Her blog was kind of a personal blog. Her posts were about her in depth reviews on the latest controversies and, sometimes, it would be a personal thought. Today was one of those days. She was writing about her current situation and how she was going to pay for her rent. She needs a job—asap.

"Excuse me, anyone sitting here?" A gravelly voice said, interrupting her train of thought. Her fingers stopped their movement and she looked up to meet the eyes of the stranger. It was the creepy old, bald guy. _Great_ , she thought sarcastically.

She forced a smile towards his direction. She tried to conceal her annoyed expression, but failed miserably. His wrinkled hands rested on the chair across from her. His dark brown eyes resting on her light blue ones. He was waiting for her to accept his request.

"Um—I'm kind of waiting for somebody," she lied to the stranger. She brought her left hand up to tuck her hair. She was not going to let this guy who had been staring at her for the last fifteen minutes sit in front of her. Surprisingly, the old guy let out a small laugh. He gave her a kind smile which showed his laugh lines.

"I didn't expect you to remember me. I guess your father never got the chance to introduce me to you," he said.

She tilted her head to the side and scrunched her eyebrows. His vague reply made her stare at him a little longer. She tried to remember a man with no hair, dark brown eyes, and squared face, but no familiar face showed. She concluded that she had never seen this person in her whole life.

Without waiting for a reply from her, the man pulled back the chair and sat down with a grunt. He placed both his arms on the table and laced his hands together. She reached for her laptop, closed it, and moved it aside to give space for the newcomer.

"Who are you?" She asked in a hushed whisper. She was getting creeped out by the second. The man did not seem to hear her.

"Last time I saw you, you didn't have teeth," he chuckled while pointing to his own teeth. Before he could utter another sentence, she said, "Who are you?" This time with much assertion.

His smile fell and he sighed. He looked at his hands that were interlaced with one another. It took him awhile to be able to answer the question because he was not sure if she was ready to hear the truth of who he was. He opened his mouth, but closed it again. He did not know what to say.

She noticed his trepidation and decided to ask one more time, but he looked at her and said, "I'm your grandfather, Arden—well, according to your father, I am _dead_." His voice was dripping with hate at the mention of her father. His kind smile was gone and was replaced by a stone cold glare.

Arden gulped nervously and fidgeted in her seat. She placed her hands on her lap and looked at him. She had so many questions for the man in front of her claiming to be his dead grandfather, but she did not know how to begin.

She always wondered why she never got to see her grandparents. Her father always said that they were dead. Her grandmother died because of cancer, which was true, and her grandfather was killed in a car accident. He also told her to never speak of it again. Being an eleven year old who rarely sees her dad, she ignorantly agreed.

"I—I don't understand. How can you be...here? Who are you?" Arden's voice was taut. She was so overwhelmed and nervous about this sudden revelation that she considered visiting her dad.

"My name is Marcus Pierce. I'm currently working at S.T.A.R. Labs," he replied. His face did not show any signs that he was as shocked as she was.

She raised her eyebrows and slightly leaned forward. "You're a scientist, too?"

He smiled and chuckled. He brought his hand up to scratch his greying stubbles on his chin.

"Where do you think your father got his interest for science?" He said with his fingers still on his chin. She shrugged and said, "I just didn't expect that you would—uh—be a scientist too. I thought you're more of a..." She squint her eyes and stared at his wrinkled face.

She was babbling again. She really didn't know what she _expected_ him to be. She just, maybe, expected him to be some normal guy; not some scientist like her father.

Marcus waited for a reply, but she just shook her head and crossed her arms across her chest. Her scrutinizing eyes were back on his.

"Why did my father said you were dead?" She asked. She didn't mean to be blunt, but she really wanted to know why her father would lie about someone special to him.

She noticed a changed in his expression. One minute he was "happy" to see her and, now, he was frowning that she started to regret asking. Marcus brought his pointer finger and thumb to rub his forehead. He lets out a low chuckle.

"Where do I even start?"

Arden didn't reply, she waited. It was obvious that Marcus did not want her to know anything. He let out a huge sigh and leaned forward on the table.

"Look, your...father and I, we didn't really agree on _a lot_ of things back when I was still the CEO of Pierce Pharmaceuticals. He had his own goals, I had my own goals. He had different plans, I had my own plans, and it was just—difficult for the both of us. We were at each other's throat every single day. I spent my years as CEO researching on ways to make the world a better place. It took a lot of effort and sacrifice to get me to where I am right now," he paused to gauge my reaction.

Arden was intently listening to him. She was hooked on every word she was saying. She had her elbow on the table and her chin placed on her knuckles. She didn't know what to say so she nodded at him to continue.

"After months and months of research, I finally discovered something that could change the future of Pierce Pharmaceuticals and the whole world," he paused and exhaled deeply, "but your father, of course, said it was a foolish and dangerous idea to even attempt such hypothesis," he stopped and drank from his coffee that he brought from his table.

Arden waited for him to finish. She watched him place his cup down and continued his story, "My colleague, Dr. Harrison Wells, found it brilliant and decided to do the impossible with me. We have been working on this idea for three years now and we achieved it. In just a few months, the world will see the future," he finished. He stared at her light blue eyes as he finished. He wanted her to be impressed.

Unfortunately, her face was showing nothing. She did not know how to react because, first of all, she was not into science and, lastly, she was terrified by the way he explained everything. His expression and that gleam in his eyes showed that what he was doing was something _really_ bad.

"So did my—uh—dad kicked you out of your job?" She asked awkwardly. _Of course, Arden, you had to ask that,_ she thought.

"Out of everything I said, that's what you ask?" He chuckles and shook his head. She lets out a nervous laugh and scratches her head.

"Yes, he 'kicked me out'," he said, air-quoting the words.

She nods her head and looked at her closed laptop. She brought her right hand on top of her laptop and drummed her fingers against the smooth surface to fill the void of silence between them.

"W-what is this discovery that you had?" She anxiously asked. She placed her elbows on the table and laid her chin on her open palm.

"A particle accelerator," he said with a confident smile.

"Okay...obviously, I don't know what that is. Care to explain?" Arden asked.

Marcus shook his head and looked at her. "Soon enough you will see," he vaguely replied. She scanned his face for any emotion, but the old man was mysterious as ever.

He pushed away from the table and leaned his back on the chair. He brought his left arm up to look at his watch. He lowered his left arm and placed both his hands on his lap.

"Well, this has been a very fun reunion, Arden," He said and reached for his coffee. He brought it to his lips and his face scrunched up in disgust.

"Cold," he commented and placed the cup down on the table. Arden watched him closely. It was weird that she just met her supposedly dead grandfather and that he shared his life story. _Why introduce himself now?,_ she thought.

Marcus placed his feet on the floor and moved away from his chair. His gaze travelled to Arden's face and he gave out a small smile.

"It's really good to see you again, Arden," he said and turned around, but before he could take another step, Arden slammed her hand on the table and leaned forward. The sound made Marcus halt and he slightly turned his face to look at her.

"Yes?" He asked.

"That's it? That's the only thing you're going to say to me. No 'I miss you' or 'Sorry for pretending to be dead'. I would have trusted you if you just said those words, but you didn't. You just randomly appeared in my life and that's what you say. A story about some dispute that I really have no interest in! Why are you really here, Marcus?" She sternly asked.

Her face set in a glare. She was a journalist and she knew when a person was being cryptic or lying their ass off. Earlier when he was explaining everything to her, she noticed his hands fidgeting now and then. His eye was noticeably twitching every time she would ask a question. Something about his behavior disturbed her. It was obvious he was anxious about something.

"You didn't come here for me, did you?" She tersely said. Marcus turned his whole body towards her and looked at her with a knowing smile.

"As I said, Arden, a very _fun_ reunion, indeed," he replied. He turned away from her and walked towards the glass doors of CC Jitters.

She let out a huge sigh when he was out of sight. She leaned forward and placed both her elbows on the table. She placed her forehead on the palms of hand and closed her eyes. After meeting his creepy grandfather, she suddenly had the urged to call her dad and ask if he was alright, but she decided not to because she hadn't talked to him for a while now.

A sick feeling went through her stomach at the thought of meeting her father again. She just couldn't bring herself to talk to him again not after what he had done to their family. She didn't know what happened, but the fact that he wasn't socializing with his daughter means that he was at fault.

She turned her upper body to look at her purse that was hung on the chair. She opened her pursed to grab her cellphone to text her dad.

She entered her passcode and clicked on the message application.

 **To: Dad 12:42 PM**

Hi, Dad! Long time no talk. I was wondering if I could visit you at Pierce Pharmaceuticals tomorrow.

 **From: Dad 12:44 PM**

Of course. What time will you be here?

She read his reply and she tilted her head to the side. She didn't know what time. She was planning to go visit Vince tomorrow and grab lunch with him. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. She bit her lip as she thought of a reply.

 **To: Dad 12:44 PM**

Is 2pm, okay?

 **From: Dad 12:45 PM**

Ok. Do you want some food afterwards? We should talk soon. I am assuming that you are busy because of work.

She rolled her eyes. _I guess Mr. Tanner didn't tell him I quit,_ she thought. Also, "we should talk soon" made her stomach feel queasy. She typed her reply.

 **To: Dad 12:45 PM**

Yeah, food sounds nice.

She hit send and stashed her phone in her purse. She didn't want to see his reply. Honestly, she was scared to meet her dad again. A lot has changed lately and seeing his familiar face felt unfamiliar to her. He was a stranger again and she was forced to eat lunch with him.

She grabbed her laptop and pushed it inside her laptop case. She pushed herself away from the table so she could place her feet on the floor. She grabbed her purse that was hanging on the side of her chair and slung it on her shoulder.

She pushed her chair back into place and walked towards the exit of CC Jitters. She wanted to go home and rest. Today has been bizarre and she did not want any more surprises.

She decided to just finish her project at home where she was comfortable and away from millions of eyes. She didn't want the day to end because tomorrow was judgement day to her.

She was going to meet her dad.


	3. (ii) BEFORE

_**Six months before the particle accelerator explosion**_

 **"BARRY!" IRIS' VOICE ECHOED** throughout the West house. She had her left leg perched on the stair step. Her right arm was casually resting on the handrail of the stairs. She was waiting for a reply from the brown haired man upstairs. Iris' huffed and pushed herself away from the staircase. She walked to the kitchen and looked at the clock on the wall.

Her shift at CC Jitters would start in fifteen minutes. She was dressed up to leave. She was wearing a black pencil skirt that she put a brown belt around it, a long sleeved dark blue top, and her high heeled boots.

 _9:45 am_ , it read. She shook her head and went back to her previous position at the bottom of the staircase.

She was going to be late, but she needed to wake Barry up because he was _already_ late for his job at the Central City Police Department as a Forensic Assistant. _My dad is going to be pissed,_ she thought.

"Barry! For the love of God, please wake up! If it was up to me, I would go straight into your room, but last time you were butt naked on your bed and I _do not_ want that to happen again!" Iris' shouted at the top of her lungs.

Iris' cringed from the memory. Last time she woke him up, he wasn't wearing any clothes. He was full on naked lying face down on his bed. She never asked why, but Barry explained that it was a very hot day for him.

Few minutes later with no reply from Barry, she closed her eyes and tilted her head up. _Please, let him be fully clothed,_ she thought. She lowered her head and let out a sigh. She slowly took another step on the stairs. By the time she was almost at the top, she shouted again, "I'm coming up, Barry!"

She heard nothing and she rolled her eyes. She reached the second floor and she turned right to go straight towards Barry's room. She brought her hand up to knock, but the door opened.

Her eyes met Barry's clean shaven face. His hair was gelled up and swept to the side. He was wearing jeans and a black shirt underneath his plaid shirt. He had a smile on his face when he saw Iris. Iris returned the smile and placed her hands on her hips. She looked at him up and down.

"You clean up fast," she said. Her voice laced with sarcasm. Barry's smile reached his eyes and he walked around her. She followed him to their living room.

"Did Joe leave already, Iris?" Barry asked as he grabbed his coat from the coat hanger beside the stairs.

Iris rolled her eyes from behind him. Her back was faced towards him. She was grabbing her small sling bag from the couch, double checking her things.

"Yeah, he did. Two hours ago," she said turning around to see Barry's jaw drop open and his eyes wide.

"N-No. No, he said ten, not...seven," he stammered. Iris slowly shook her head at him throughout his sentence.

"Seven, Barry, he said this right before we all went asleep. You're late, and, yes, my dad is going to be _pissed_ ," She said.

She slung her purse on her shoulder while Barry hurriedly wore his coat. He was behind Iris as she opened the door. He stumbled towards the door and almost forgot his CSI Forensic kit on the floor on the small table beside the door.

Iris laughed at him as he struggled to carry the heavy kit.

"Come on, Barry, we're _both_ late already," she said and opened the door.

+x+

 **BARRY RAN THROUGH THE CROWDED** streets of Central City. With every step he took, he let out huge breaths of air. He was struggling to keep the heavy bag from slipping from his shoulders. He pushed himself to run even faster. He didn't want to get in trouble again.

Oversleeping was not a good excuse to Captain David Singh. He was going to get his ass fired, but, thankfully, Joe West was there to protect him.

"Excuse me—sorry—my bad," He said as he moved past the sea of strangers. He saw the familiar stairs of Central City Police Department and ran towards the doors.

"Wait, wait, wait!" He shouted from the entrance as he saw the elevator doors started to close. A female officer that he did not recognized politely pressed the button to keep the doors from closing. Barry sprinted towards the elevator. He almost hit two police officers walking in front of him, but he side swept around them.

When he finally reached the elevator, he panted and muttered a "thank you" to the female police officer. The elevator doors shut and silence filled the room.

Fortunately, it was not crowded in the elevator. He stared at the floor buttons to see that his designated floor was already pressed. He looked up and stared at the little screen that showed the current floor. After a few seconds, the doors open and he ran for the last time.

He saw Joe and Captain Singh having an intense conversation. From his vantage point, he could see them through Captain Singh office glass. Joe was standing in front of Singh desk while Singh was seated at his leather chair.

Singh had a frown on his face while Joe was busy talking to him. His hands were making gestures while he talked. Barry prayed that whatever they were talking about was not about him being late _again._

He greeted some officers that he knew as he passed by them. He reached Captain Singh office and knocked. He heard the conversation suddenly stop and he looked through the glass to see Joe's disappointed face.

He looked away and felt the guilt rush through him. He reached for the knob and twisted it open. The door let out a creak as he pushed it forward. He entered and closed the door behind him. He met two pairs of eyes and his guilt deepens.

"Three times in a row, Allen. _Congratulations._ What was it this time?" Captain Singh mockingly asked Barry.

Barry opened his mouth to utter an excuse, but couldn't when he saw Joe looking at him.

"Uh—I got stuuuck...in t-traffic be-because, uh, Iris—" he stopped his sentence when he saw Joe turn his full body in front of him. His face stone cold and his hands were on his hips. Clearly, he did not want Iris to be included in my excuse.

"—no, no, Iris, just me. I was—" he was interrupted by Singh. Barry gulped and clutched his bag sling tightly. He didn't have a valid excuse this time.

"You know, Barry, I am this close," Singh held up his right hand and used his pointer finger and thumb that was barely touching to show his point, "to firing you," he paused to see that Barry was now looking down at his feet.

"But I don't, you know why? I don't fire you because you are the best this department has when it comes to collecting and analyzing evidences," he finished. Barry looked up at Singh with hopeful eyes and nodded.

He was silently thanking the man. He didn't want to open his mouth anymore in fear that he would say something stupid. Singh looked away from him and turned his chair towards Joe who was leaning against the wall, arms crossed.

"West, kindly show Mr. Allen the recent evidence we gathered in the latest Smith murder," Singh said and he leaned forward on his table. He gathered his papers and started opening folders. This was him showing them that they had to leave and that the conversation was over.

"Come on, son," Detective Joe West's gruff voice filled Barry's ear. He turned his head and saw Joe's ever-so-kind face. Barry followed him out of Singh office.

As they walked up the stairs, Barry decided to talk to Joe, "Hey, Joe, I'm sorry for being late," He said in the most sincere voice. He heard Joe sighed and he replied, "It's okay, Barry, just try to be early next time, okay? Singh might have been kind a while ago—"

"Kind? He was embarrassing me again," Barry argued.

Joe turned around to face Barry and he scolded him, "Everyone has their limits, Barry, don't keep pushing your luck around Singh. You being the best or not, he can still fire you," Joe finished and turned back around to reach the top of the stairs.

He didn't say anything because Joe was right. They arrived at Barry's lab and Barry cringed at the sight of his messy workspace.

Papers littered the floor and his laboratory equipment were scattered at his desk. He also had a leftover donut from CC Jitters on his table beside his favorite red mug.

"This is just nasty, Barry, clean up. The recent evidences are inside those file cabinets. We also wanted you to run up some DNA test on the blood that we find and see if you can find a match," Joe explained to Barry.

Barry, who was listening, scrunched his nose in disgust as he saw ants lining up towards the donut. He picked up the small plate that had the donuts on it and threw the donut _and_ the plate on the trash can near the door.

"After that, you can go home. Don't forget to pick up Iris after her shift, okay?" Joe said and looked at Barry sitting in front of his laptop.

"Yes, Joe, I got this," Barry replied and turned his upper half body towards Joe. He gave him a small smile and Joe returned it. Joe silently left the room and Barry turned back to face his computer.

 _This is going to be a long day,_ he thought. He let out a sigh and planted his feet on the floor to stand up. He went around his table and walked towards the file cabinet that had the evidences.

+x+

 **CC JITTERS WAS UNUSUALLY FILLED WITH A LOT PEOPLE.** Iris was not used to having so much people lining up at the counter that it almost reached the entrance doors. The tables that the coffee shop had did not even seem to be enough for the people that were currently inside.

She noticed that the top floor was almost full and the main floor was not doing much better. Fortunately, she wasn't the one manning the counter or else she would be stressing out.

She was actually taking a break. Her shift won't start after twenty minutes and she silently prayed that it won't be this crowded.

She was seated at the corner of CC Jitters near a plant. She scanned the room for any familiar faces, but saw no one. She let out a sigh and leaned back on the couch.

She just wanted to go home, but she couldn't because her work does not end until 8:30 pm. After a few minutes of contemplating her life and staring at the vast amount of people, she stood up from her arm chair and headed towards the back of the counter.

When she was about to reach the counter, a really tall guy, about six feet, blocked her way. She looked up at the guy and met the green eyes of the stranger.

"Oh. Hello," Iris said, confused. She stepped away from their close proximity and scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.

The stranger continued to smile at her. He had a coffee cup on his right hand and he was wearing a baseball cap on top of his short shaggy blonde hair. Iris did not mean to stare a little bit longer, but she did.

She had to admit that this stranger was attractive. He had a dimple on his left cheek and his shaggy hair was sticking to his forehead messily. He was tanned and muscular. Iris could see his biceps shaping at the sleeves of the maroon shirt he was wearing.

"Hi—um—this is embarrassing," the guy started. His voice was exactly what she expected to hear. It was appealing; not too high or low. It was husky and kind of sexy. She also envied his perfectly white teeth that made his smile glow.

Iris craned her neck upwards to look at the guy properly. The guy brought his coffee close to his chest and continued talking, "My friends dared me to talk to you and wanted me to get your number. I said it was easy, but looking at you now, it's going to be harder than I thought," the guy smoothly said.

Iris had to keep herself from grinning. This handsome guy was seriously flirting with her. She was not that lucky. Still, she wasn't going to fall for this cute guy's cheap tricks. She knew he was lying about this 'dare'. She was a cop's daughter; she's not easy.

"You're going to have to take me to dinner first," Iris said. She gave him a tight smile and walked around him.

The guy stepped backwards to stop her from walking. He grabbed her arm which made Iris turn around and glared at him.

"Don't touch me," she snapped pulling her arm away from his grip. The stranger let go and brought bought of his hand up in a surrendering position.

"Feisty. I like that," the guy continued to flirt. Iris squint her eyes at him and turned away from him. She started to walk again, but cute guy stopped her again.

"What do you want? Touch me again and I'll have you arrested. My dad's a cop," She replied. The guy raised his eyebrows and gave her another heart-stopping smile.

"Okay. Take it easy, princess. I guess you know that I wasn't dared to talk to you. I also do not have my friends with me. I'm alone, but, the truth is, I _do_ want to talk to you," He explained.

"Why?"

"Can't a handsome, young gentleman talk to a pretty girl like you?" He said with a grin. Iris couldn't help but smile at his sentence. She crossed her arms on her chest and took a small step towards him.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Vincent Snow or, you know, just call me Vince. What do they call you?" He asked in return.

"Iris," She replied and bit her lips to keep her from grinning. She brought her hand up for a handshake which he gladly took.

"That's a pretty name, Iris, lovely to meet you."

+x+

 **FIVE HOURS PASSED BY,** by the time Barry finished his report on the latest case. His eyes hurt from not blinking too much. He was so focused on his work that he did not even bother getting up to eat or drink.

He looked at the time to see that he was actually too early to go to CC Jitters to pick up Iris so he decided to stay at his lab for a few more minutes. He leaned back on his chair and stretched out his arms and legs. His back cracked a little and he let out a moan. He stood up from his chair to fix his table.

He gathered his latest findings and put it inside a single folder. He closed the folder shut and saw the front page.

 _GERARD SMITH - MURDER VICTIM_

He sighed and carefully placed the folder beside his laptop. He grabbed his bag that was also his forensics kit and slung it over his shoulder. He really didn't like unsolved murder cases. It reminded him of his mom's death and how unfair it was that his father was in jail for it.

His grip tightened on the sling of his bag. He shook his head from the tragic memories that happened. He would free his father from prison. He was sure of it.

He walked out of his lab and turned right towards the stairs. He stopped when he saw Joe's running figure towards him. Joe stopped midway when he saw Barry at the top of the stairs. He was panting from all the running he just did.

Barry saw the worried look on Joe's face and he knew something had happened. It was the look he gave him and Iris every time they were about to do something reckless.

"Joe, what is it?" Barry asked his expression changing from bored to frightened.

"Pierce Pharmaceuticals. There's been a robbery. Three civilians are dead and five are injured. We have to go there now."

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Flash.  
**


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